[	Tags	|	eustacia gardiner	]
[	Mood	|	aggravated	]

A few eternal truths:

1) No matter what I may think at 9 in the morning before I've had tea, I really don't want my life to be more interesting.

2) Especially not if religion is involved.

There is a former minister of the Church of England Arcane preaching at the Speaker's Corner in Hyde Park. The preaching would be nothing big, but he's telling them they have a queen, not a king, and that she came back from the dead, and that she's the Pendragon.

I've known Aristotle since we were prefects together and I don't understand it. Dracaena Leffoy isn't even from the right family to be the Pendragon. And he of all people should know that.

Nonetheless, I'm taking Teddy Scower and we're leaving now to see to this, because I don't even want to be in the building when Jez and Gwen find out.

(I should tell Wilkes what his wife actually does. But then I'd have to look at him and I'm never going to forgive him for the way he looked at me with those great soulful eyes of his and demanded to know if I was going to break Laurens' heart.)

[	Tags	|	polly gardiner	]
[	Mood	|	thoughtful	]

God bless, I haven't spared a thought for it till now, but what will we do if the school does close? I don't mean what will we do with the children--there will have to be some sort of school, and we'll have a part in deciding what sort--but where will we live? With Eliot? With Stacia? With the Potters?

I don't think I could live with Eliot. I had enough trouble living with Eliot when we were all children. Stacia likes her privacy; she's had two marriages fall apart on her and both times it was Laurens van Rensselaer's fault--and after he dragged her off to Transylvania, too! Mother has been very snide about it, but Mother is snide all the time. I think only Aunt Grace understands, but then her first marriage fell apart on her too, and Will and Jadis hardly speak to her. Mother says we're both hopeless. Rebecca doesn't think so, thank goodness, but still. I don't think Rebecca's brother likes us much.

Well, I'd like to have a house of my own. And we could. I suppose I've just become used to thinking of it as something we can't have, but we could, if we don't have to live in this castle. I would miss the girls, although I won't miss Abbott or Bainbridge much (I honestly do pray for them), and I would worry about them, but it's better for children to live at home if they can, isn't it?

We could do it. And Rebecca would like to play for a living again, and...we could. But now, I have letters to write. And tea to prepare. Never a moment's rest, but how could I?

[	Tags	|	polly gardiner	]
[	Mood	|	curious	]

I really must talk to Laura Proudfoot. I am as fond of pink as anyone, but she has taken it too far, and considering all the privations our mundane-born students have to endure, it is simply poor taste. I’m afraid Laura will never understand that there is such a thing as simple elegance.

I'm glad that Irma has been having a better birthday than I had. The party has gone very well; I do hope Rebecca and I will have a chance to have dinner together this weekend as I am quite aware how little I will see of her the next, but we shall see. At least the Pendry-Leffoy feud is over. I didn't envy her, having two Pendrys and the littlest Leffoy in the same year, especially not since they fly as well as their parents did.

I wonder what Eliot has been doing. I like him so much better, now that we don't have to live under the same roof. Eliot can destroy a room simply by walking into it and breathing on something. Of course in wartime this is a useful talent, but even so, I'm awfully glad I don't have to help Mum clean up after him any more.

They still haven't figured out what happened to poor Professor Barlowe, or the de Kernoël boy.

[	Tags	|	polly gardiner	]
[	Mood	|	shocked	]

This is dreadful; I feel so terrible for Mr Barlowe's family back in the Colonies. I don't know what we shall ever say to them. I had really begun to think of him as one of us, even though he only took rooms here because Professor Frealaf had used to be our Head of House. He came at the very end of last term, and I never got to know him, because he kept to himself so much. Now I never shall.

I'll draft a letter for Headmaster Mathers to sign to send to his parents; he didn't have a wife, nor any children, and I suppose that's a blessing now, but how terrible for his parents! I wanted to clean up the mess at once, because it is so ghastly, but Will Goyle stopped me and said that we had to leave it that way until the constables could be spared to look at it. I don't understand--it's perfectly obvious what happened, and none of the children must ever see such a horrible thing. Manticores do eat people, and I hope Mathers doesn't permit the next professor to have another one here. Of course he said it was tame for him, but that's what people whose inappropriate pets have eaten them have nearly always said a thousand times--and then it happens anyway.

It was such a lovely morning, too; Rebecca brought me breakfast, and we were eating it together, when Professor Stuart came to tell us. Am I selfish for being sad that our morning was ruined? And naturally neither she nor Scalara had any idea that something dreadful was about to happen. I have no idea what she is paid for, other than stroking the over-inflated sense of their own importance which both of the Mathers are known for. It's always been par for the course that the autumn term starts on my birthday, but this takes the prize.

[	Tags	|	polly gardiner	]
[	Mood	|	hopeful	]

Not everyone can have purity of blood.
But we can all have purity of intention.
Not everyone can have the finest material things.
But we can all have the finest manners.
Not everyone is born with a beautiful face.
But we can all nurture the things which make our hearts beautiful.
Not everyone has an inheritance of land or of gold.
But we are all heirs and heiresses to the greatest civilisation the world has ever known.
Not everyone is called to go out in the world to earn money or glory,
But everyone will touch the heart and life of someone who will.
Those who create our wealth and our strength draw their own wealth and strength from the industry and character of those who support them.
Whatever you do in this world, do it well and with grace, for it will be crucial to someone.
And remember, you may be the only holy book that someone reads today.